VANCOUVER, Canada—Sarbjeet Singh Neel, also known as Dr. “Freedom Singh” and his wife Barbara Fraser (Leela Singh) have announced to perform interfaith weddings in the UK as most Gurdwaras there have refused to do so. Dr. Freedom is based out of Canada and is known for performing destination weddings across the globe. He has several websites promoting his businesses, including bookings for Anand Karajs, sangeet parties and other rituals.
Sikh Rehit Maryada, Chapter XI, Article XVIII, Point K. states, “Persons professing faiths other than the Sikh faith cannot be joined in wedlock by the Anand Karaj ceremony.” Dr. Freedom totally disregards Sikh beliefs and traditions through his service by ignoring the Sikh Rehit Maryada, and the Sri Akal Takht Sahib, the highest seat of authority for the Sikhs.
In 1998, Akal Takht Sahib issued a mandate to the worldwide Sikhs asking them to not take Guru Granth Sahib’s saroops to hotels and palaces, which at that time had become a common practice. Anand Karajs would take place in palaces, where alcohol and meat would be served concurrently. Dr. Freedom and Leela are not only guilty of defying the Akal Takht Sahib mandate that bars interfaith weddings, they are also responsible for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
An undercover phone call to Dr. Freedom revealed that he has arranged for anand karajs in remote locations by transporting Guru Granth Sahib Ji’s scripture. “I bring the scriptures carry on all the time, not checked. We take the entire scripture and conduct the ceremony and also provide music for the Sangeet,” Dr. Freedom said.
When asked about potentially disrespecting Guru Granth Sahib, Dr. Freedom replied, “Gurbani is eternal and the word respect is your own prospective. As long as you don’t intend harm, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
A quote dating 2014, provided to Sikh24 by one of Dr. Freedom’s clients, revealed the Canadian couple charge US $2,000 as “Professional fees for the Wedding Service including the Milni Ceremony if required, bringing the Adi Granth (Sikh Scriptures) and their appropriate respective materials. We do not bring the Palki.”
“Our Fees DO NOT include: Travel/Flights (for 2) from Vancouver to your wedding destination. Other expenses may include parking, car rental, gas, tolls, baggage, flight insurance, meals, and incidentals. This fee will be personally quoted to you when we know exactly when, where, and the duration of the event; and what services are required of us. (The return trip can vary from 4 – 6 days total).”
“For an additional fee of US$1000 we can also provide Live Music for the Ladies Sangeet Party, Mehndi or Reception Event.”
The new endeavor of “interfaith weddings in UK” by Dr. Freedom and Leela is being marketed as a way to “promote love and respect” among those who have been refused marriage by Gurdwaras in UK for violating the Akal Takht Sahib edict. Tensions were high in UK last year and a protest broke out at an interfaith wedding where the bride was from a Sikh family and the groom was Christian. Both decided to wed twice, once at a Church and then again at the Gurdwara.
The protest led the Gurdwara Committee to call the police and several protesters were arrested. One of the protesters, Deep Singh stated that he was not against interfaith or mixed marriages. He explained that an “anand karaj was a religious ceremony and in a religious building, you have to understand and follow tenets of the religion”. He said just performing ardas and registering the wedding with the registrar could be an option for interfaith couples.
The Sikh Council UK, the largest body of British Sikhs, has ruled that Gurdwaras should not perform interfaith weddings as it also called for an end to protests.
“Instead of explaining anand karaj and its true purpose, this has become a business opportunity for many,” Deep Singh said. “Religious ceremonies are for peace of mind, however, many people unknowingly indulge into beadbi by not having the proper guidance. This cannot be allowed.”
Video of interfaith “Fusion Sikh Hindu Wedding” performed by Dr. Freedom and Leela. Hindu chants of “Jai Ram” [hail lord Rama] can be heard in the background.
Dr. Freedom Leela singing Gujarati songs in presence of Guru Granth Sahib
“Awal Allah noor upaya, kudrat ke sabh bande. Ek noor te sabh jug upjiya kaun bhale ko mande.
Loga bharam na bhoolahu bhayi. Khalik khalak khalak mahi Khalik, poori rahio sabh thai”
Ang 1349 Sri Guru Granth Sahib
Allah, the Creator, first created light. Everything i.e. all his creation is the slave of His Nature. From one light whole world came about without any distinction of good or bad.
O people! do not get lost in any illusion or delusion; the creator who feeds the whole creation is present in His
creation and the creation is included in the Creator. Thus, the Supreme Being is present everywhere and in
everything.
The Sikh of Sri Guru Granth Sahib is clear: “Supreme Being is present everywhere and in everything.” No exceptions as per the Guru Sahib.
What exactly is against Sikh tenets in this? Are we following Bahmanvad? I’m sure I won’t get a single logical answer for this because it doesn’t exist. Protesting this marriage is against Sikh tenets.
Wow. All of you who are so offended by this should lose your right to be devotees of Sikhism. The religion is about acceptance and inclusion, and if a bride and groom feel like this couple is helping them achieve a happy unity, then leave them alone.
It’s the hyper-critical people like you that make Sikhism less appealing to others and are the reason Sikh politics even exist in the first place. Grow up. Learn to accept. And move on.
shutup we do not want to include anyone or exclude anyone … Guru mahraj is the only respectable authority shutup and stop interfering with sikh faith … if you don’t respect sikh faiths and rules .. go marry in other tradition or whatever the f u want to do… don’t come to sikhism ..
Someone stop this ugly moron Dr freedom singh from keeping guru ji hostage and performing sham sikh marriages. The same must be done to the 3HO black magic occultists, they are holding Guru Ji hostage to their evil pakhand.
Lmao ill like to watch you try dr.freedom singh
Stopping this shameless ‘Dr Freedom’ isn’t really that complicated. In order to do any type of ‘work in the UK, whether paid or unpaid, he must be in the UK on a valid work visa from the British High Commission in Canada. If he arrives on a normal tourist visa, than all we need to do is inform the authorities as to where and what he is doing and he will be led away in handcuffs and kept in a detention centre before being escorted back to Canada like the common criminal he is. If, he wishes to actually apply for an actual work visa than precedence dictates that he will not be granted a visa by the British High Commission as long as we make the High Commission / Foreign Office aware that his visit WILL provoke social / communal unrest. As for all the other places he has already ‘performed’ in, we should use his own penchant for self-publicity against him. Using his own plethora of photographs and advertised charges against time we should contact the visa departments of all those nations and ask them if they were aware that a certain ‘Dr Freedom’ entered their country on a tourist visa but actually indulged in paid work, then taking said monies out of the country. Then just sit back and watch as Dr Freedom is no longer welcome in any foreign shores. :)
Marriage is the Union of two Souls .
It is between two individuals and not between two religions.
We need to respect there decisions.
Gurbani say God is one. In Sikh weddings scriptures, we marry to God.
I guess Sikh politics think all of this is not true during their versions of Sikh weddings.
Remember how sikh weddings came about, brahmins would not marry some people. Guru Ji started this ceremony to marry these people Why Sikhs become so closed, ritualistic, developers of bramacharya rather than trusting Gurbani, faith-filed people:
? the point is these people don’t believe in god or Sikh religion they just have these ceremonies for the sake of legitimizing their marriage and making their parents happy and taking pictures… if one truly cared about god and Siri Guru Granth Sahib they wouldn’t direspect the guru and get married on beaches and wear revealing bridal outfits and have alcohol all around the resorts and venues and sit on chairs during the Anand Karaj!
Soldier Singh who the hell do you think you are? Obviously this is a comment thread and on this site I write comments… what I do outside this thread is none of your damn business … at least I express my views here and speak the truth and try to defend my Guru against evil Indian government trolls!
Miss Kaur,
I respect your concern about disrespecting Guru Granth Sahib. My personal thinking is that a person should be inside and outside the same. So many times, our outside can look very proper but the inside is dirty and filed with poison. God understands everyone’s utma, I wouldn’t want to judge anyone by their outward appearances. If they want to do it through Guru Granth Sahib, I feel their is some sharda in their heart and we shouldn’t deny that sharda. Just my two cents
Yes what’s in the inside is important and I respect your views but when people don’t follow simple rules that are put in place to protect the Siri Guru Granth Sahib from being disrespected then people can always have an excuse do whatever they want, it will be a free for all frenzy and I’m not asking these people to become baptized and follow all the Sikh tenants but at least show some respect and what your actions from the outside can tell someone about how one feels from the inside, for instance, if one really cared and respected the guru they wouldn’t be sitting on chairs and having weddings right next to spring break party resorts where we all know how much inhumane behaviour And over drinking occurs there
Also showing cleavage and your stomach is also disrespectful and these are just societal written rules, when a woman goes for a job interview she’s expected to look professional, showing your stomach and cleavage is considered unprofessional, similiary when one goes meet their guru showing cleavage and stomach is considered to be unclassy and disrespectful
So sad that it has come to this Dr Neel. Do you really need the money so badly that you would prostitute your Guruji for it? If it was a political statement I could understand. But charging $2000 plus expenses, seems more like a cash grab from a sad situation! Guruji is always to be accompanied by five amritdhari Sikh. For gods sake you cant take money with you, dont sell your soul for a piece of paper. Rather spend your energies in conveying what the Anand Karj truly is; a union of bliss of two individuals to the supreme being. Two amritdhari SIkhs. Yes most Anand Karj participants hardly meet this criteria today, but that does not meet we should try to personally benefit from this disparity.
USING the Guruji in this manner is dispicable and unbecoming of a SIKH. I understand you are wed to a white lady and certainly there is nothing wrong with this; in fact my beloved is a red headed Aussie, but at the time of our union neither of us was a Sikh in practice. For that reason I made the decision to have a civil wedding to share our vows of commitment. In hindsight i have always had some regret in not staying on the path of the Guru’s and living my early years as a SIkh, but I also am grateful that i was able to recognize the hypocrisy of having a “SIKH” wedding just so I could deceive my family and friends and most importantly my Guru by becoming a SIKH for a day. Please read our Ardas carefully and recognize what sacrifices have been made for a SIkh to remain a SIkh till their last breath. Lets try to encourage non amritdhari Sikhs to have civil weddings and get a blessing from the Guru rather than debase one of the most sacred events for an amritdhari Sikh.
Disgusting individual cannot be Sikhs and are not Sikhs!!! If they wish to carry out ceremonies I do not understand why they do not doing under their own Geeta or which any other holy scriptures – why in front of Guru Granth Sahib Ji? These individual must be banned by all Sikh Community and dealt with in the manner that our Guru Ji has tort us. Fake people fake weddings fake ceremonies – fools are those who go through these…..
MISS KAUR: Are you actually ever going to do anything or just keep commenting on posts.
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Who are these shameless Sikhs who disrespect Siri Guru Granth Sahib??? If you clearly don’t care to respect the guru why are you even having a sikh anand karaj, what is the point of your ceremony? Do whatever you want but stop using guru for your fake weddings, if you’re a Sikh and don’t believe in god or the guru then go get a court marriage or have your own vows why are you disrespecting our guru and culture and religion and traditions? People these days are very pathetic
Please read 4 Lavan and understand what they say.